Michael Porter Jr. on contract talks: “When it’s supposed to happen, it’ll happen”

Only a few days from the start of Nuggets training camp, Michael Porter Jr. isn’t thinking about anything but basketball.

At least that’s what the Nuggets star forward claimed Thursday, as the deadline for an early contract extension inched closer. The Nuggets have until the start of the season to reach a deal with the 23-year-old or he’ll enter next summer as a restricted free agent.

Porter, fresh off a healthy offseason that featured a week-long workout with Warriors sniper Steph Curry, said he’s leaving negotiations up to his agent, Mark Bartelstein.

“It’s a thing that’s on the radar, but, you know, I try to let my agent do his job,” Porter said. “I’m in the loop. I’m talking with my agent, talking with Tim (Connelly), those guys, but for me, it’s God’s time, and when it’s supposed to happen, it’ll happen. I’m not going to try to rush it. All I’m gonna worry about is getting ready, getting geared up for the season.

“… I love basketball,” Porter added. “It’s not too stressful for me about the money stuff. Of course that’s part of it. I’m just trying to stay in the gym and get better.”

Not coincidentally, Porter’s work ethic is one of the primary reasons the team views him as a fixture of their core moving forward. Both Connelly and Nuggets coach Michael Malone have lauded his commitment in the gym and are both bullish on his future.

In just his second real season in the NBA, Porter averaged 19 points per game on 44.5% shooting from the 3-point line. With a timeframe for Jamal Murray’s return still unestablished, Porter will be featured even more heavily in the Nuggets’ offense than last season, when he burst into the starting lineup and became a mainstay there throughout the playoffs.

Still, perhaps due to any number of reasons, talks between the two sides remain fluid.

“Tim and I talk all the time, we have a great relationship,” Bartelstein told The Denver Post. “Michael is completely focused on getting ready for the season and wants to take his game to a completely different level and help the Nuggets win at the highest level. Tim and I will continue to have conversations on our end.”

Among offseason stops that included Missouri, Washington state and Los Angeles, Porter spent extended time with Curry, whom he knew after attending his camps as a high schooler.

Porter and his brother Coban worked out with Curry in what the Nuggets’ forward described as high-intensity shooting workouts.

“Steph’s biggest attribute is how good of shape he’s in,” Porter said. “So we were running around, game-speed shots … Every shooting drill was a competition as well.”

The sessions, which sometimes meant morning and evening workouts, were meant to replicate the type of shots Porter expects to see in games. He also said he was hoping to work with Curry during future offseasons.

But even outside of the Curry visit, Porter was back in the lab rarely taking any days off. He said his focus was on improving his ball-handling, creating off the dribble and refining his separation moves. There’s a good chance that his 13.4 shots per game last season will tick up as the primary ballast to reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.

In particular, Porter said he paid attention to the mid-post where his 6-foot-10 frame can expect to tower over mismatches on a nightly basis. It’s the same real estate Carmelo Anthony has dominated during a career certain to end with a Hall of Fame induction.

All his work, whether it yields a new contract or not, was a result of him being healthy after he was hampered in the postseason. Porter admitted he wasn’t himself during Denver’s second-round sweep to Phoenix, and said he wouldn’t have been playing if it wasn’t the postseason.

“I had tweaked something and I just felt totally off,” Porter said of the Suns series. “Every movement, everything … I wasn’t me.”

A week or two later, Porter was back in the gym, honing his sweet stroke for another season. Perhaps it’s his medical history that’s delayed an agreement, or perhaps it’s compensation. But with several weeks to go, Porter’s focus doesn’t seem to be anywhere else but the gym.

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